Sunday, March 17, 2013

Human beings are
complicated creatures, capable of both lofty humanitarian and cultural feats as
well as horrific atrocities. Attempts have been made all throughout history to
try and explain our duality, even to the point that we deify both our good and
evil natures almost universally in our various religions. Essentially, humanity
is based on this struggle between our “better angels” and “inner demons”, as
we’ve been learning about the last few months. Is it more in our nature to be
essentially good and kind, or are we only kept in check by the outside
influences of society? Scientists and theologians have struggled with these
concepts for centuries. We’ve seen Darwin’s “Natural Selection” come into play,
as well as the idea of original sin and salvation. Our attempt has been to
determine, along with Steven Pinker’s guidance, whether or not humanity has in
fact become more peaceful, as well as what forces have been at play throughout
the process of civilizing us from tribes of hunter-gatherers to the society we
live in today(Pinker) . Along the way, we
have studied specific triggers to identify reasons for our shift to a more
peaceful society. The most important, I feel, have been the formation of
sovereign nations, the rise of gentle commerce, empathy, skepticism and reason,
as well as various individual rights movements later in our history.

It would be nice if we could identify one
particular reason why we have become more civilized, but that would make life
too easy and put many social scientists out of work. Instead, we’ve come to
realize that it is a complex and interconnected series of events, which modify
our perspectives and change our agents of socialization, and these events have
been unfolding for centuries (Pinker xxiv-xxv). One of the civilizing and socializing
agents that has led to the reduction of violence is the philosophy of the
“Leviathan”, attributed to Thomas Hobbes (Hobbes).
In his book Leviathan, Hobbes writes
about the nature of mankind, laws of nature, the sovereignty of nations, as
well as laws and politics. His writings have become recognized as a blueprint
for the development of a more stable society, leading to common language and
tradition, which acts as an agent of socialization bringing humanity together
in social and economic settings (Hobbes 5-6).
One of the primary characteristics of the Leviathan is that it holds a monopoly
on the “legitimate use of force”(Pinker 538). Simply put, the citizens
of the sovereign nation recognize the government (Leviathan) as being
legitimate, and as such, holds the power for the use of force or violence to
maintain order. Without the Leviathan to govern over a society by holding the
power to use legitimized violence, society would fall into a state of anomie (Croteau/Hoynes). Anomie was defined
by Emile Durkheim as chaos and normlessness, comparable to anarchy(Croteau/Hoynes 14).

One of the civilizing aspects that comes
with the formation of the sovereign nation is the networks of trade and
commerce that develop. For this commerce to stay civilized, it must be both
fair and generally viewed as equal, with punishments for theft and dishonesty,
as well as granting (or selling) land rights to individuals. When people were
allowed to work their own land, and then sell their products for profits, great
leaps were made in the advancement of individual human rights as well as for
the decline of violence as people realized that they had to rely on others for
their livelihood (Pinker 75-81). In Medieval times, commerce was
controlled, or outright banned, by church ideology that said profit was sinful.
This has been termed a “zero-sum” situation, meaning that in theory individuals
were not allowed to profit, only to produce or trade what they needed to
survive. As attitudes changed along with the development of new religions, the
idea of profit and “gentle commerce” became the dominant ideology (Pinker 77). This new concept of
gentle commerce also brought about the idea of positive-sum outcomes, that is,
business or personal interaction to where both parties benefit. One of the
roles of the Leviathan was to safeguard and regulate these interactions to
maintain, or by decree of punishment, attempt to ensure that these interactions
remained fair. By implementing punishments whose outcomes were deemed worse
that engaging in fair trade to begin with, dishonesty was kept more or less in
check (Pinker 77).

A side effect of the rise in gentle
commerce was a reduction in unquestioned religious devotion. It was observed
that as people made more profits, they desired to spend their profits, which
was thought to detour them from church ideology (Weber).
This opened the doors to new ways of thinking, a heightened skepticism, and the
use of reason rather than religion to explain the natural world. Around this
time, published materials and literacy were on the rise, so that knowledge could
be freely shared with others who shared the same skepticism. These events led
to both the rise of empathy and a movement historian’s call The Enlightenment (Pinker
177-181).
Although it is in human nature to feel sympathy and empathy toward others, the
ability to empathize with complete strangers didn’t really begin to evolve
until the 18th century when books and other printed materials could
be easily shared with others, allowing commoners and aristocracy alike to have
the opportunity to read about and experience the lives of others that they had
no connection to (Pinker 176).
Max Weber described this concept as Verstehen, which could be applied to both
individual and historic points of view. Weber explained the process as valuable
to reconstruction and understanding of past events, as well as the ability to
put oneself in the shoes of others to understand their motivations and emotions
(Parkin 19-20).

By this point, groups of “enlightened”
thinkers began using print as well as other infrastructure such as postal
services and ship transportation to begin a process of sharing their thoughts
and deductions of the rational world. Key players in the Enlightenment movement
included Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, Isaac Newton, John Locke, as well as a number
of other scientists and philosophers from both Europe, and later in the
Americas. Enlightenment ideals centered around skepticism and reason as a way
of explaining both the natural world as well as to rationalize how people think
and act (Pinker 181-182). Both the American and French
revolutions used elements of the Enlightenment and rationality as the basis for
their movements, and fostered the idea of individual rights. One key aspect of
the advancement in the sharing of ideas and philosophies is that it begins to
connect the global community, allowing other likeminded thinkers to perpetuate
Enlightenment ideas. Later, this would play a larger role in the various human
rights movements over the following centuries (Pinker).

One of the difficulties faced in trying to
explain our decline in violence over the millennia is how a “culture of honor” can
still cause humans to react with acts of violence to avenge a perceived or
actual insult (Pinker 21-22). Sociologists and psychologists have
spent years trying to explain why people react violently and impulsively when
they feel the need for retaliation, and whether or not these are biological
responses or due to our socialization (Croteau/Hoynes 153). This carries over even to the
Leviathan in regards to crime and punishment. Retribution as a justification
for harsher punishment has led to worldwide debates over capital punishment and
the philosophy of an eye for an eye that has carried over from biblical times (Croteau/Hoynes
208-210).
One sign of progress toward a society becoming more peaceful has been the
abolition of capital punishment throughout the world. According to Amnesty
International, capital punishment has been abolished in closed to two-thirds of
nations, with an average of three more per year following suit (Amnesty International).

Another prevalent hurdle to the advancement
of peaceful human relations is radical ideology. When large groups believe in
the same radical ideology, they can be capable of horrendous atrocities (Pinker). Ideology can take
multiple forms, such as religious, class-based, economic, or political, and due
to a human tendency to follow charismatic leadership or a goal of utopian
outcomes, they can commit violent acts they otherwise wouldn’t even think of
committing otherwise (Pinker 557).
Groupthink is a term used to describe those who will blindly follow an
ideology, as well as suppress dissent against the ideology. These masses of
blind followers have been described as sheep, conforming to the dominant
ideology whether or not they truly agree with it (Pinker 560-561).

Overall, it does appear that we have been
following a trend to a more peaceful humanity, but we still have a long way to
go. We have made amazing advancements in human rights, we’ve worked toward
peaceful globalization, global literacy is increasing, and we’ve seen decreases
in civil conflict as societies move toward more democratic governments (Pinker
671-696).
Unfortunately we are still dealing with sensationalism in the media of violence,
which in and of itself can spawn further violent acts and a lack of coverage
when human rights violations are involved. We see governments or corporations
turning a blind eye to make a profit, exploitation of less advanced cultures,
and a modern counter-enlightenment taking place in the United States and other
nations. I feel to make truly great strides toward a more peaceful humanity, we
need a new enlightenment, as well as transparency of governments and a rise in
inter-governmental organizations (Pinker 166-168).

As I began this class, I was skeptical
about the truth behind the hypothesis that violence has been declining. The
modern era is constantly bombarded with reports and images of violence, making
us believe that the current situation is one of an increasingly violent
society. We fail to see that wars are declining, crime rates are tied to
economy, and we haven’t seen the horrific genocides of past centuries. I fear
we may be due for an African genocide given the current political climate and
the unwillingness of the Western world to intervene in an advisory capacity.
Overall, though, I do agree that our tendency towards violence, interpersonal,
institutional, or militaristic, is declining. If we can learn from our past,
promote another enlightenment, and lose our biases, then we may become an even
more peaceful society. Bias is a social construction, as well as most of the
other “justifications” for human violence. Over time, social constructions can
be changed, but not until humanity recognizes their shortcomings. As we learn
to change our agents of socialization, our “better angels” have a better chance
of winning the battle of our duality.